Holy Tears – Holy Tears

 

Holy Tears – Holy Tears
Self-released – 2023
Instrumental, Rock, Metal, Post, Prog
Rated: ****

“Instrumental. Heavy. Post rock with a punch.” That’s a short and sweet intro from the band themselves on their bandcamp site, but the words are spot on and only need the words progressive added, and metal, and captivating and awesome. We’re talking about the Holy Tears three from San Diego, USA and their self-titled debut album, released at the very end of 2023. Why start writing about that album in March 2024? Well, for starters, we can do whatever we want, it’s the internet and it’s my little old site. Secondly, the physical release was set for April 2024, so that’s another valid reason. But more importantly, the best reason of all, me thinks, it’s one of those amazing albums floating around the Heavy Underground that managed to stay completely hidden the past months. Well, for me at least. And perhaps for more of the Heavy Underground crazies out there, otherwise I reckon I would have heard more about it. Cause after hearing it for the first time, I could not stop spinning it. And after falling in love with an album we do our best to profess that love and spread it as zealously as we can… And we know we have a truckload of heavy music fiends with us that would do the same… 

The Holy Tears album will be moving you along at the speed of a sonic current, bursting, electricity sparks flying everywhere. For thirty-two minutes your world will become this revolving flux, zooming around and booming of the walls. The opening track, one and half minute long, Deter feels like an in medias res approach to introducing their sound. Offering up all their instrumental metal, with progressive, post rock, post hardcore and a touch of noise. This has the benefit of Holy Tears showing their colors early and preparing you for the rest of the prog and post metal blizzard to follow. The almost three minute long Nihilist follows, which encapsulates a paradox take on both unfolding their sound as well as wrapping it up, tightly knit one moment and absolutely free flowing the next. By the time the third track Hanuman arrives you are complete immersed in the Holy Tears universe and you will start to recognize certain patterns, motifs and especially the color scheme for what it is. The perfect way to create this ever morphing space, for their sound to inhabit and explode out of. Continuously reinventing and invigorating itself. And by the time the final track Gravity, with that intense clockwork of doom opening section, abruptly brings the adventure to an end, you will feel like you’ve been listening to one majestic piece of art. Perhaps three suites executed as one composition; an expose on how to pulsate or vibrate in an ever changing way, but in such a manner that the exploration feels like a deep dive into the depts, a penetration into a wild and wonderful abyss. The Holy Tears three delivered one of the best debuts of 2024 and the amount of potential immediately audible is enormous and makes you wonder what these three might achieve in the future… But for now you are here and with thirty-two minutes of impressive instrumental progressive and post metal heaviness to look forward to…

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

Holy Tears
The Lumberjack Feedback
Young Acid
Mooch
Ash Eater
Blue Öyster Cult
Kintsugi Empire
Guenna
Nine Moons
Robot God

Good morning! I’ve unfortunately sustained a neck injury, which will impede my headbanging for quite some time. But I will not let it hinder any of my heavy rocking! It’s been another hectic week in regards to all the rent paying work, but we did find some time to do that thing we love! That Stoner HiVe thing! Which means we will be putting up a few words later today about that damn fine Holy Tears album! What a release! And in the week that has passed we managed to write about Ash Eater, Blue Öyster Cult and The Lumberjack Feedback. We also die a worldwide full album premiere for that awesome The Lumberjack Feedback album The Stronghold and did a Quick Fire Friday for some damn cool video’s! All in all, not bad right? This Friday will be the Friday for the new edition of the Doom Charts, which will be good… But later today, some words about Holy Tears! Hope you will check them out, the words and that album! Have a great week!

Ash Eater – Breathe The Smoke

 

 

Ash Eater – Breathe The Smoke
Self-released – 2024
Rock, Metal, Classic, Doom, Thrash
Rated: ****

Doom thrash by way of classic heavy metal! Yes, now here’s something we can all get crazy with! Get on board this gravy train for it will not only drop you off on every metal station they pass, it will also drop you in on whatever skater punk bowl they might come across! It’s the six track ravenous Breathe The Smoke album by Portland, USA, three Ash Eater! We’ve mentioned their Any Port In A Storm single back in December 2023 on Stoner HiVe and were smitten with that manic side of their metal. And we’re happy to report it’s present on all other six tracks as well. They go big on that eighties vibe, speeding across the Bay Area just as easily as noisily rampaging through something more psychedelic or doom inspired. The trio of skaters, fronted by the bassist for fellow PDX acts LáGoon and Oopsy Dazey, know exactly what their strengths are and how to massage them into your brain. No lubrication at all, they shotgun their foggy and smokey ruckus straight into your bloodstream!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

I’m pretty sure there will be some Friday Freebie action over on the Doom Charts today! And over on Stoner HiVe!? Well, we have some Quick Fire Friday action! That’s right, a few selected words about something cool that has been spinning a lot over here… This time around, we do it slightly different, a shorter and perhaps sweeter version to give you all some new videos! Why not right?! And we know… There is so much out there, so much good and heavy stuff, and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. But here it is… Another Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday! And it burns hot like molten lava!

Greenleaf – Avalanche

It went bang again some two days ago! For the new Greenleaf single and video was released back then. It’s called Avalanche and is the second single for the new album The Head & The Habit to arrive on June 21st through Magnetic Eye Records. Breathe, Breathe Out had that comedic video with the amazing shirts made by Tommi Holappa’s daughter. This one is sporting an official lyric video, with cool visuals and that almighty Greenleaf groove! Hitting you like an Avalanche!

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Geezer – Acid Veins

Premiered on the legendary The Obelisk a day or two ago, it’s the new Geezer track and video called Acid Veins. It’s from the soon to be released, on the very cool Heavy Psych Sounds label, split album called: Interstellar Cosmic Blues & The Riffalicious Stoner Dudes. And that, my friends, is not a whole mouth full, it is also a freakin cool split album featuring ISAAK on the other side. Bam! Nothing more to say, except to state that it’s the Harrington groove blues boogie in full swing and we cannot stop spinning it! 

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Suif – Hollow

Soon. Very soon. They will be blowing up your stereo with their slowcore magnificence on an album called A Run On Thin Ice. We’re talking about Bordeaux, France foursome Suif. And out now is the first single and video Hollow. Beautiful music with a beautiful video. Listen to Hollow and go follow… Suif…

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Deliria – Gemini

Cold or was it a shiver of pain that ran through me? A cut in my finger, like from knife but now from a sound. Am I supposed to linger? Am I supposed to feel all this existential dread decent upon me? Gemini is the second single and live video from the new album Phantasm which will be released on May 3rd. The highly evocative post metal, black metal outfit from San Fransisco called Deliria implores some hardcore influences and a whole lot of atsmosphere! Making me wax poetic!

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Max Boogie Overdrive – Stoned Again

We jotted down a few words about the damn cool Stoned Again album about a month ago. It’s out on Future Primitive recordings now and Max Boogie Overdrive have now released a video for it’s title track! The full album Stoned Again album was already one big trip. Well, just watching the lovely video for the title track will get you high as well! A righteous trip! 

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Worldwide Premiere – The Stronghold by The Lumberjack Feedback

 

 

Worldwide Premiere

The Stronghold by The Lumberjack Feedback

We’ve been absolutely addicted to the instrumental heaviness brought to you by French five-piece The Lumberjack Feedback. Two drummers, two guitars and one bass coming together like a singular magnetic energy current. We wrote some weird and possibly insane words about their new album just yesterday, which you can read HERE or by scrolling down, and we are honored to bring you the FULL ALBUM PREMIERE today. It’s the kind of album that functions as a release; one that will open the valve of your mind, the regulator of your heart and lets go of some of the pressure. There is succor to be found in their sludge and relief in their metal. Yes, it made me feel things. And I can only hope it does the same for you. Cause The Stronghold feels like a tour de force, the masterpiece The Lumberjack Feedback were destined to produce at this time and place in the world…

Check out the FULL ALBUM PREMIERE !



Read more about The Stronghold by The Lumberjack Feedback!

HERE!

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The Lumberjack Feedback – The Stronghold

 

 

The Lumberjack Feedback – The Stronghold
Argonauta Records – 2024
Instrumental, Rock, Metal, Post, Hardcore, Doom, Sludge
Rated: *****

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. There is always a shadow around the bend, waiting to obscure the light. One must be a sentinel, a guardian of virtue to continue to illuminate the path of righteousness. The new five track album The Stronghold feels like a manifestation of those feelings. And after reading some of the driving forces and thoughts the five-piece The Lumberjack Feedback had while creating this instrumental tour de force, one can only conclude they succeeded in translating what they wanted. Founded somewhere around the year 2008 and hailing from wonderful city of Lille in France, the five are releasing their newest album The Stronghold on Friday the 26th of April. And we are honored to be able to present the FULL ALBUM PREMIERE TOMORROW!

We also feel very privileged to have been living with this album for quite some time now. It’s an album based on two drummers complimenting each other and finding each other to drive the message home or to find a different space to inhabit while the other sets up the time and the signature of a massive groove. Offbeat one moment and like a motoring gargantuan stomping the terra together the very next. The two guitars moving around each other, translating that statuesque atmosphere or letting loose and assuming a more sludge core attitude. Those guitars, riffing, grinding or wailing over a bass that is there to provide groundwork for them to shine and at other times outshines them by mirroring a melody they provided. 

Opening track Kings And Servants immediately setting that solemn mood; yet riddled with so much suspense. Exploding into a prog metal, sludge toned and machinal middle piece, which keeps on pushing and subjugating the listener, until one bows before the almighty tone. And then and only then, will the track train on, like a massive steamroller. With this hallowed choir like sound lifting the entire compilation up to heavenly proportions. Praised The Lord For A Brighter Future is the following track, thunders through its opening, until the guitars get to pick up the groove, the flow and that circling melody, and an epic proportion of heaviness that feels like they are chiseling out an entire universe with the music they create. Building seems the operative word for this track. And the result is huge, breathtaking and worthy of every bit of your imagination. Failing To Witness His Mighty Work starts off post metal and prog rocking, before exploding into a mighty metal foray that unleashes so much fury and instrumentation, you are almost overwhelmed and can’t help but reach for and hold on to that acoustic guitar suddenly bursting through and offering succor. It’s the life line that will guide you through these tempestuous waters… 

There are five tracks on The Stronghold, but they feel like one big masterpiece, like thirty-seven minutes of instrumental metal, with post rock influences, prog, hardcore, doom and sludge that are like a robust and lofty wall to girdle in all that wants to burst free. For even the more subdued moments are always moving outwards, expanding and aiming to become bigger than the bastion that created them. Gallant and full of honor, the sonic universe of The Stronghold is alive with all the right virtues of humanity. And the listener might feel them while listening to this righteous tour de force…  

You want to feel all this and more?
Check in again tomorrow… 

For tomorrow we are honored to present to you the full album premiere of The Stronghold by The Lumberjack Feedback!

(Written by JK)

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Blue Öyster Cult – Ghost Stories

 

 

Blue Öyster Cult – Ghost Stories
Frontiers – 2024
Rock, Hardrock, Seventies, Psych
Rated: ***

Let’s Kick Out The Jams! Remember 2020? Back in October of that year Blue Öyster Cult released that pretty tasty album called The Symbol Remains. Surprising everyone with that album after so many years of only live stuff and even more so with its quality. And only four years later, after also releasing that celebratory live set of Blue Öyster Cult being around for fifty years, they are back with new stuff. Or should we say old stuff. Or good stuff? Well, you could say that whichever way you look at it, it’s a good time for Blue Öyster Cult fans. And well, I guess it’s a band that keeps on giving. For now, we have Ghost Stories on our hands! A selection of recordings that were still on someone’s shelf somewhere and have never been officially released. A few cover songs all the fans already know and love from earlier live albums or from the times they were present for a Blue Öyster Cult gig. But there are quite a few Blue Öyster Cult tracks on this little compilation album that are worth it. For the fans. Cause it’s not that new big album you might want. Especially since the sound seems to lack a bit of kick or flow. You know what we mean, that Blue Öyster Cult bite mark when they get gritty or that languid rush whenever they let it all flow like a river. Both of these aspects seem watered down. And after reading that some tracks have been improved upon with the help of AI, we wonder if that is the reason it sounds so bland. Like a veiled version of everything Cult. But even then, you must conclude there is still something that might fascinate you, especially as a fan, for the tracks were recorded in a long period between 1978 and 2016. Which in itself seems like a big period to capture on one release. It makes you wonder if this is it of if there is more out there. Whatever the case, let us hope we will not see any more Beatles covers in the future…

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

Blue Öyster Cult
The Hazytones
The Cold Stares
Hawkwind
Bonnacons of Doom
The Neptune Power Federation
Kintsugi Empire
Robot God
Ufomammut
Danava

The weeks are flying by! Even though Good Boy Kyle has been handling all the Doom Charts responsibilities this month; there has been little extra time to do more work for Stoner HiVe. It’s been hectic over here with deadlines always looming. But we did find a little time and managed to write something about that damn cool and brand new band Heath. Their debut album Isaak’s Marble will be out May 10th and by coincidence the equally stunning Wild Fever album by Canadian crazies The Hazytones will arrive on that same day. We jutted down a few words about the new Hawkwind and the new Dool. And also managed to premiere two new singles by Maragda and share one by We Kill Cowboys. Well, not completely useless again, but we always hope to do more… Perhaps this week? When we do another full album premiere on Thursday! Won’t say which album yet… That news will arrive soon! Enjoy your week and check out the albums above!

Heath – Isaak’s Marble

 

 

Heath – Isaak’s Marble
Suburban Records – 2024
Rock, Seventies, Prog, Psych, Blues, Classic
Rated: ****

This five piece hails from The Hague, Netherlands. Or well, they reside there, for Heath has members from Sweden, Australia and the Netherlands. And on their debut album Isaak’s Marble they not only traverse the globe looking for the right kind of sonic inclusions for their sound, they also travel through space and time to take everything in that has been done before. This is that early prog, the psych of yore, the sixties and seventies approach to the right kind of Kool-Aid for you to guzzle and enjoy. The atmospheric parts are as colorful as a flowery meadow, the harmonica induces zealous energy and the guitar solos will have you dancing around like a flower power love child. And that’s just on the opening ten minute long title-track, which gives you everything you need to know about Heath and their debut album Isaak’s Marble. And because those ten minutes will ignite a spark at every one of your nerve endings, you will be sticking around for the following ten minute long Wondrous Wetlands. With a more Americana and pastoral scene beginning, a bit of jazz to turn it all into the classic rock, blues and psych you are expecting, it becomes this beautiful and blooming prog rock dalliance that flutters and feels like the perfect spring day. And because they profess themselves not to be limited by any boundaries, it ends with the Wondrous Wetlands snow globe being violently shaken and heated above a fragrant fireplace. With a few seconds short of seven minutes, the following Strawberry Girl is the shortest track on the album. Miniscule Eastern touches, some scoot boogie funkiness and a whole lot of catchiness, this is impossible to sit still to. The almost fourteen minute long Valley Of The Sun closes the album, once again with that Eastern touch, the warmth of candle lit summer nights and so many layers that the colors of the Persian rug will start to flow over into each other as the trip continues. With some highly dynamic twists and turns, even a few very intense and radical moves, Valley Of The Sun feels like the magnus opus of five hippies that just want to run wild together. And that’s something we love to hear! Heath has been together for only two years, released those three stand alone tracks you can find on their Bandcamp and has now unleashed their full-sized debut, which are some forty-one minutes of pure psychedelic bliss. Four tracks that are as good as they come, with nothing amiss. And judging from every meticulously placed note, sound and wisp, they’re not just playing for Isaak’s Marble…

(Written by JK)

The album comes out May 10th.
But you can listen to Atalantis and two earlier singles on their bandcamp... 

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Hawkwind – Stories From Time And Space

 

 

Hawkwind – Stories From Time And Space
Cherry Red Records / Suburban
Rock, Space, Psych, Prog
Rated: ***

I really had not expected that grand master Dave Brock would continue to churn out an album equal to the damn fine 2021 record Somnia. With his eighty-two and going on eight-three years on this planet; and for more than half of that time behind the Hawkwind steering wheel, the man has given us so much great space rock to travel with. Sure, the legendary Hawkwind albums all came out in the seventies, but these last few in the past couple of years have still been pretty impressive. Especially Somnia in my humble opinion. Well, Stories From Time And Space comes close to that album. Even though it opens fragile with Our Lives Can’t Last Forever, which fits the song. And of course, fits the man’s age and his recent stint at the hospital. Old hippy times will be there to take you away with its vapors once second track The Starship (One Love One Life) rolls around. Space rock that will evoke that nostalgia within you and the absolute lust to keep experiencing these wild musical cosmic adventures. As we can be sure Dave Brock also feels this, that it’s the reason he keeps soaring as much as he can. And Stories From Time And Space rocks, not as hard as they might have in the past and always with a leisurely groove, but that’s often exactly what you need to zone out to. That’s also the reason why the sparing vocal usage feels right for this album, it all sounds like the music is there to make you dream and that those dreams will tell you all the stories you need to hear. Relaxed yet very energizing. And as Hawkwind regales you with everything they learned through time and space, we cannot help but hope to hear more in the future…

(Written by JK)

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The Hazytones – Wild Fever

 

 

The Hazytones – Wild Fever
Black Throne Productions – 2024
Rock, Stoner, Psych, Doom, Metal, Seventies
Rated: *****

It will arrive on May 10th, through that cool Black Throne Productions label and we have been spinning it for quite some time now. We’re talking about that wild new feverish The Hazytones album Wild Fever. Yes, we used the words from the album title immediately there, cause that’s how we roll over here and simply because the album title fits every part of this release so perfectly. Cause even when you listen to the slower, doom touched fourth track Night Is Young, you will still feel those drops accumulate on your hairy back side. You will be breaking out in a sweat because of the fervor you hear throughout that track. The oppressive and humid atmosphere that pushes upon you and keeps pushing until it opens up in that middle part with space to breathe, a guitar solo to make you fall in love with and a keyboard flourish to make you gush over, eighties metal reminiscent vocals howling and screeching and reveling around in an empty moonshine jar, because yes, the Night Is Young. The now four from Montreal, have become more than the sum of their parts on their third full-sized album, showing growth and the lust to explore different avenues. With only founding member Mick Martel still present, it’s not weird that the bluesy psych, (that southern bayou touch on the Down track, so lovely and clammy!) and the seventies grooviness from their first album is still there, but infused with so much more metal it turns the overall listening experience from good to something epic. And yes, that proto and more psychedelic doom stuff from their second album is still there as well but offered up as an under current for certain songs or as a minor influence in others, which also leaves the perfect room for the songs to find their own identity. Mixed by the great Esben Willems and mastered by awesome Kent Stump, this albums sounds like you’ve always wanted The Hazytones to sound. Hazy, wild and with a wealth of musical decorum, kaleidoscopic in all its misty melodies and feverish in delivery. The Hazytones are here to infect your brain and make your temperature rise!

(Written by JK)

Album out May 10th...
But you can listen to the first single Disease here...



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Dool – The Shape of Fluidity

 

 

Dool – The Shape of Fluidity
Prophecy – 2024
Rock, Metal, Doom, Prog
Rated: *****

Today they will be playing Roadburn… But I believe it was 2006 when I had the pleasure of interviewing Raven van Dorst, who was then known under the name and fronting the punk band Elle Bandita. The band was one of the few guitar driven acts on an otherwise mostly dance and electro based line-up of that years STRP Festival in Eindhoven. The festival has since then changed into a totally different animal and so has Raven. And where there’s definitely a miniscule bit of sadness for the loss of the music performance side of the STRP Festival, we can only rejoice at everything Raven has become. Now fronting Dool, the band featuring Nick Polak on guitar, Omar Kleiss on guitar, JB van der Wal on bass and Micha Haring on drums, Raven seems exactly where she should be as they release their third full-sized album The Shape of Fluidity. This doesn’t mean that the overall theme of the album is lighthearted. Where debut album Here Now, There Then might have already been touching the subjects on this album it felt to diverse to completely come across in the way they must have meant it. Following Summerland told the lore of an afterlife tailored to each’s own desires and sense of beauty. The Shape of Fluidity is about one’s identity in this fast moving society. About personal growth and all the psychological strife, one might go through existing in this day and age. Musically, we hear an even opener and bigger sound than on the already huge Summerland record. Like a storm approaching in the distance, you can hear the sound pick up when the song demands for it or Raven’s vocals, which are like a tempest onto themselves. Or more subdued when needed like on the title track. And that’s perhaps the main theme on this album, that the band has found their own sound and that the album sounds more like team work in comparison to earlier albums. The way the guitars are intertwined to such a degree its hard to tell who is who or how the bass and drums weave themselves through it all and never over or under it. It sounds so perfectly balanced, like all of it, every note, every phrase and every beat was found and arranged together. There is still some of that dream like mist floating across these almost fifty minutes, which was so prevalent on Summerland, but all of it has become hookier and with so many layers, that The Shape of Fluidity will keep opening up new scenes for you. The Shape of Fluidity will undoubtedly change for you over time and grow with you, and there aren’t that many albums that have that ability…

(Written by JK)

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Worldwide Singles Premiere – Maragda

 

 

Worldwide Singles Premiere – Maragda

We’re honored to present to you the Worldwide Premiere for two singles by Spanish progrockers Maragda! We loved their The Reckless / Evil Seed single and we adored their self-titled album from 2021, so we could not be happier to present to you the two brand new singles! And not just those two singles; we also get to premiere a live session! That’s right, Maragda is on fire and is releasing two tracks called Skirmish and My Only Link. AND, a twenty minutes long live session, featuring those singles and the earlier released title track Tyrants. Besides those three tracks there will also be a five minute long interview at the end of the video. Out on May 8th through Spinda Records the Barcelona three have woven another brilliant tapestry of prog, psych, garage and kraut elements. It will once again enchant the listener and take them on a journey through the fantasy universe created by Maragda!

So, in conjunction with MoreFuzz, Outlaws Of The Sun, RockZoneMag and Doomed Nation we give you Skirmish and My Only Link and the Siete Barbas Studio LIVE session!

Skirmish and My Only Link:




Siete Barbas Studio LIVE session:




From the PR Wire:

"SKIRMISH" + "MY ONLY LINK" IS THE NEW DOUBLE SINGLE BY PSYCH ROCKERS MARAGDA

The second album by the Barcelona-based band Maragda will be titled 'Tyrants' and will be released on May 8, 2024, via Spinda Records - pre-orders are now available. After teasing the title track last month, today they unveil a double single comprising the songs "Skirmish" and "My only link", presenting them in both studio and live versions, with the latter extracted from the live session they recently recorded at Siete Barbas Estudios. Melodies, atmospheres, compositions of great complexity, and a garage attitude are the main components of 'Tyrants'.

This way, Maragda continues to unveil this highly anticipated album, which serves as a follow-up to their successful self-titled debut album (2021, Spinda Records) and the live EP "The Reckless / Evil Seed" (2022, Spinda Records). In this new musical journey, the band immerses listeners in introspective themes ranging from self-imposed limitations to the fight for values, love, hope, and farewells. All of this unfolds in a hypothetical fantasy universe, where psychedelia and progressive rock continuously merge, adding nuances of other styles like garage.

For the creation of the album "Tyrants", Maragda embarked on a creative journey that took them to the Big Snuff Studios in Berlin, where they collaborated with studio engineer Richard Behrens, renowned for his work with bands like Kadavar and Elder. Subsequently, the mastering was handled by acclaimed engineer Peter Deimel (known for his work with bands like Motorpsycho) at the Black Box Studios in France, solidifying a successful collaboration that began with their debut album.

In the visual department, the band has once again partnered with Error! Design studio (known for works with Explosions In The Sky, Russian Circles, Mastodon) for the album's graphic design, ensuring a cohesive and captivating aesthetic experience for their followers.

TRACK-LIST
1. Tyrants
2. Skirmish
3. Endless
4. My only link
5. Sunset room
6. The singing mountain
7. Godspeed
8. Loose

PRE-ORDER:
22 march 2024

RELEASE DATE
8 May 2024

'Tyrants' will be available on May 8 through Spinda Records, although it can be pre-ordered in CD and vinyl formats. The vinyl edition will be part of the 'Trippy Series' from the Andalusian label, alongside acts such as Viaje a 800, Moura, The Silver Linings, Empty Full Space, or Moundrag. It will be limited to 400 copies on white vinyl with orange splatters and 100 copies on standard black vinyl.

LIVE SHOWS
May 04 | Tenerife (ES) @ Volcano Fest
May 17 | Madrid (ES) @ Madrid Psych Sessions
June 8 | Barcelona (ES) @ Sala Upload (release party)
more to be announced

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New Video – We Kill Cowboys

 

 

Brand New Video – We Kill Cowboys

We’ve got two premieres for you all this morning! Well, sort of... The crazies that follow Stoner HiVe know we love We Kill Cowboys! And we’re thrilled to premiere the new single and video R.I.P. by the South African four. Hailing from Capetown they infuse elements of stoner, grunge and punk on this new track and with its highly atmospheric openings tones, opt for grand gestures and to immediately captivate the listener… Once heard, you will be dying to hear it again! R.I.P.!

From the PR Wire:


Cape Town’s We Kill Cowboys Unleash Raw Power With Their Video For Latest Single R.I.P

Cape Town based rock unit We Kill Cowboys release the video for their latest single R.I.P out now via Mongrel Records. Fronted by Alex Muller, whose sultry and gritty vocals lead the charge, We Kill Cowboys' sound is a blend of psychedelic rock, grunge, and stoner blues. Their music dives deep into anti-establishment themes, inviting listeners into a world of thought-provoking narratives.

The band's upcoming single, inspired by the pain of betrayal, is a personal yet universally relatable anthem. Muller comments, "The song is based on dealing with betrayal. It's a very personal song, one of those kinds that just pours out. They need to come out. You need to feel that shit and share it."

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

 Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

Robot God
Empty Frame
Tigers On Opium
Leather Lung
Thou
Yin Yin
Eat Your Own Head
The Vice
Driftless Witches
Skraeckoedlan

Another week in the books and another one that lead me away from doing Stoner HiVe work… Unfortunately… But we all know the deal. The rent has to be payed. Still, we managed to do some Stoner HiVe fun early on in the week. With a slightly bigger version of the Doom Charts blurb for Tigers On Opium and later on the same deal for Skraeckoedlan. We published the Stoner Hype post with blurbs for the Numbers 40 to 26 of the March Doom Charts. And we reviewed Empty Frame, Eat Your Own Head and Robot God. So, I guess not a completely wasted week in the Heavy Underground. We hope to do more this week! Enjoy yours and check out the ten great releases in the list on top!

Robot God – Portal Within

 

 

Robot God – Portal Within
Kozmik Artifactz – 2024
Rock, Psych, Space, Stoner, Prog, Fuzz
Rated: *****

Two years after the much acclaimed Worlds Collide album, the Sydney, Australia three called Robot God are back with a new release called Portal Within. Comprised out of four songs, lasting almost forty-two minutes, the album is here to take you on a journey. And even if the title suggests this will go inwards, the expansiveness of the compositions will surely make it extend outwards as well. For the four tracks are all like that free rock, long form, jam based, psychedelic and progressive rock we all adore and long for. But with a definite stonerrock and riff revering undercurrent, it also has that sweet and dusty desert vibe. Half way through that first song Long Way Round you are jogged awake out of your lovely cosmic slumber by vocals which take you down to earth and into the desert. They tell of a storm approaching, and it does, for that ending maelstrom turns the composition into a cosmic storm of gigantic proportions that seems to serve as a quick knockout punch ending. But before you get there, the seventies inspired guitar solo first, the motoring riffage that leads up to that eye of the storm, the quiet section, where the guitar solo goes bluesy and proggy all have you traversing this windswept and baking hot extremely wide landscape. Following track Illusion of Order, with six minutes on the clock, is the shortest track on the album. Strident, yet sliding vocal lines, pull you along in the song, where the majestic, low and dirty, bass work sets the scene for something atavistic stonerrock. So incredibly gritty, sandblasted and exhuming this dry heat, Illusion of Order is there for the perfect generator party. Since the title track is called Portal Within, we shall refrain from commenting where it took us. Cause we would not want to influence your journey in this case. And then there’s final track Nazare, which definitely takes me back to my time at that legendary beach in Portugal. The long straight of beach, the slow rolling waves. There were no monster waves during that time. And this nine minute track of Nazare seems to hint at those tranquil days, lounging in the sun, riding those perfect rollers. For yes, there seem to be those lovely sounds of ocean, before the guitar, with a minor Mediterranean touch, starts up. As soon as the guitar shifts in heaviness that Mediterranean also hints at a slower version of surf rock influences. And the once again the vocals, instilling their surfpoke message. Ride the wave. Take the ride. Or be sure to ride that massive one called your life. Well, and the new Robot God album Portal Within is definitely that, one hell of a ride!

(Written by JK)

Album comes out on Kozmik Artifactz, April 26th...

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Eat Your Own Head – The Trawler

 

 

Eat Your Own Head – The Trawler
Drongo Records – 2024
Rock, Punk, Noise, Metal, Math, Grunge
Rated: ***

Holy mackerel! The four from Norwich, UK called Eat Your Own Head aren’t here to cut bait, they’re here to fish! And on their new four track EP The Trawler they’re shooting fish in a barrel, when it comes to laying down noisy riffs and math like compositions. Metal is the big fish in a small pond filled with grunge, punk and something severely alternative when it comes to all the other influences. Four tracks give you more than fifteen minutes of heaviness that does not flounder. Sludgy by default, the ever changing rhythms are like a red herring always shifting in pace and tempo when you don’t expect them. But that’s what Eat Your Own Head does best, using those math influences to build something intensely noisy, yet also melodic and sometimes even practically catchy. And of course, that’s why you go out on The Trawler, to be catchy, catch, catch some huge fish. And this is so massive, it will leave you stunned like a mullet!

(Written by JK)

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Empty Frame – Underdogs

 

 

Empty Frame – Underdogs
Coma Records – 2024
Rock, Alternative, Post, Prog, Stoner
Rated: *****

I love Greece, been to many of its beautiful islands, but have unfortunately not yet visited Athens. Seeing a live show by the great The Same River alone would be worth the trip. And now there’s an extra enticement. For the five-piece going by the name of Empty Frame is also from the ancient city of Athens, and they have delivered one hell of a new album! Formed in the year of our lord 2005 they are approaching their twentieth anniversary. And with their new record Underdogs, they are releasing their fourth full-sized album. Not counting the two soundtrack albums (Heroines 2015 and Hands 2017) which they also delivered. Underdogs can be viewed as an ode to “all those people who have suffered oppression, discrimination, violence and facing their dead ends, wake up/breathe and rebel.” Underdogs is the first Empty Frame album that does not use piano, but still implores cello and violin, which is what makes Empty Frame so different. Which gives the band their very own sound, the celestial soundscape touch, the grand arc that is always present. The way they use those classic instruments and classical elements to create the heavy music they most definitely do characterizes the band in a way that very few other bands have. Eleven tracks with almost fifty minutes whisks you away on their prog rock adventure. There are more seventies rocking, psych and post rock influences and more nineties alternative touches, but all of those comes second to that cello and violin touch. Even if they are sometimes minute, they are there to lift all of the compositions to a higher plain. And so do the duo male, female vocals, perfectly complimenting each other. And don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a clean cut classic rock album. No, there is riffage here, gritty tones, excellent riffs and wild guitar work. Just take third track High Plains for instance, exceptional guitar puncturing, building and splintering whenever the composition calls for it. Those vocals, both delivering this top down ominous view as well as something that feels like a warm embrace and a refrain that could go further during live shows. The cello and violin get to shine during the middle section, and then when it all comes together, it combusts in a contained way. It sounds like the most seminal Empty Frame track on Underdogs, the one that sets the scene after those already amazing two that came before. Opener Come Undone with its overture sensibility and Ghost Town with a hint of Queens of The Stone Age. Three songs in and it’s three perfect strikes! Empty Frame!

(Written by JK)

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Skraeckoedlan – Vermillion Sky

 

 

Skraeckoedlan – Vermillion Sky
Fuzzorama Records - 2024
Stonerrock, Progressive, Fuzz, Metal, Sludge
Rated: *****

I finally got to see Skraeckoedlan again this year, at the Into The Void Festival at the Effenaar in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Those first two tracks were a huge surprise, especially the vocals. Not because we had forgotten that the sing in Swedish, but simply because live they sounded completely different. It took some time for the crowd to warm up to them it seemed, as well as the guys to warm up their vocal chords. Cause soon they started to become more familiar and like the Skraeckoedlan we’d been in love with since Äppelträdet from 2011. (An album that made it to the Number 4 spot of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of that year, according to all the votes that came in.)  Songs from their entire discography passed by, but also their newest single: The Vermillion Sky from their then upcoming album Vermillion Sky. But before that majestic song, they premiered Mysteria, playing it for the very first time live, they said. Which was very noisy and sludgy as it washed over the crowd. Overloading all the senses and turning the entire venue into a whirling hurricane of sound. It still is on record, but it also seems to glide serenely through a Vermillion Sky as the vinyl spins. And that’s the magic of Skraeckoedlan, they can make noise and sludge sound like a thrash stampede just as easy as they can make it all feel like a soaring progressive masterpiece. And together with this album, they also released a video game and a book. They can do everything it seems. Well, they might not be as proficient in promo, otherwise it would surely have ended among the Top 3… And not just because I had them in my Top 3… Where Vermillion Sky will stay for a very long time...

(Written by JK)

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